According to research, wild chimpanzees have their own “signature drumming technique.”
Researchers who tracked and observed chimps in the Ugandan rainforest found that the animals drum out signals to one another on tree roots.
The distinctive rhythms, according to the experts, allow them to transmit information across great distances, disclosing who is where and what they are doing.
The findings are published in the journal Animal Behaviour.
Wild apes, according to Dr. Catherine Hobaiter of the University of St. Andrews, drum with their hands and feet on big tree roots.
She stated, “If you hit the roots extremely hard, they echo and emit a loud, deep boom that goes throughout the forest.”
It was a terrific technique for us to locate the many chimpanzees we were looking for, as we were frequently able to identify the drummers. If we could achieve it, we were confident that they could as well.”
Scientists discovered that each male chimpanzee employs a specific pattern of beats. They mix it with pant-hoots, which are long-distance vocalizations. And different species use drumming at various moments in their calls.
Vesta Eleuteri, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Vienna and the study’s principal investigator, described how some individuals have a more regular rhythm, like rock and blues drummers, while others have more variable rhythms, like jazz.
“I was amazed that after only a few weeks in the jungle I was able to identify the drummer,” she remarked. However, their drumming patterns are so different that they are easy to recognize.
Ms. Eleuteri referred to a young male chimpanzee called Tristan by researchers as “the late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham of the forest.”
Tristan’s drumming can be identified by his lengthy, rhythmic drumming bouts, which are audible from a distance.
In addition, the creatures appeared to only utilize their trademark beat when traveling. The researchers assume that a chimp decides whether or not to give his identity away.
“If you are exhibiting to a group, you may not want the large alpha male around the corner to know who you are,” Dr. Hobaiter explained. “You should not give away the game.”
She said that understanding chimps’ drumming in this way could explain a long-standing communication mystery: wild chimpanzees welcome one another when they meet, but do not appear to “say farewell” when they separate in the jungle.
Dr. Hobaiter explained, “The chimpanzees may not need to say goodbye because they can effectively stay in touch while they’re away.”
“These long-distance signals allow monkeys to communicate with one another. This may help us comprehend one of the differences between chimpanzees and humans that we previously believed to be true, as well as how this difference may have arisen.”
